Shelby County Sheriff's office drops plans to buy drones

The Shelby County Sheriff's office dropped plans to use federal grant money to buy two miniature helicopters that can carry video cameras and transmit images to an operator, Sheriff's chief administrative officer Chuck Fox said today.

He said the department dropped the plan because the federal government on Tuesday had announced new guidelines about their use. He said commissioners had many questions about privacy and that he didn't know if the new regulations would have changed the response to any of their questions.

The Sheriff's department says it would use the little remote-controlled drones for search-and-rescue missions and searching for criminal suspects. But Commissioner Brent Taylor and other critics raised concerns about aerial spying on citizens.

After lengthy and inconclusive discussion today about whether the Sheriff's department would buy drones in the future, the commission voted 6-0 in favor of using a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to buy other equipment, including scuba gear and a remote-controlled robot for underwater searches.